11 months in El Salvador

Wow. I've been a bad girl not posting for awhile. We've had so much progress on our project the last couple months it's been so exciting. Once they got the four 2nd story walls up, it began to take shape. A huge shape! Just for your information, the temple is a concrete building that will have granite on the outside. Jim has learned a lot about concrete structures and building concrete buildings in an highly seismic area. We've had many earthquakes since our arrival, although, we've only felt two. We generally sleep through them!
The other day he said, "I want to go home and build an earthquake protected home!" I don't think there is such a thing as "earthquake proof", but you can build a building strong enough to stand until everyone is safely out. As of this week they have two of the four arch forms up that create the huge windows. It looks great. I love that it finally looks like a temple!
In looking back, we had a few days off during the week of Agostinos; the first week of August. It's a major holiday here next to Easter. Our workers were off a few days so we went to the Eastern part of the country and did some exploring on the beaches. It is truly not geared for tourists. We ended up back in a large city in a Comfort Inn! But we did find a good beach "club" close to home. Nice pools, beach, and restaurant. It was called La Joya del Pacifico. They let us in for the day.
We went to Guatemala in September to attend the temple there. We were detoured due to the border being closed for a "Presidential Activity". They didn't let us know until we were almost at the border so we ended up doing a lot of backtracking and a 3.5 hour trip took 6 hours! We were rerouted through a border closer to Antiqua, where we were headed anyway, so we
spent a couple nights there shopping! I love that place! If you don't go to the temple in Guatemala City on a weekday or on a Saturday at 6 am, the lines waiting to get in are long. So we missed our opportunity.
The worst the last few months? Driving. We got hit a couple weeks ago. Three cars in two lanes don't work. But here? Who says those painted lines are lanes? And I drove-all by myself one day! I was very nervous but did fine. I felt like I fit in, squeezed in, and flew around the "round abouts" with angels on the four corners of my little car. I haven't driven since, because, in truth, I have no where to go......besides if I go grocery shopping or run errands Jim doesn't get a break. Those are our dates; to the Super, Hiper Paiz (Walmart) or Pricemart. The best in El Salvador? The food. The restaurants. Such yummy food.
Oh. And another worst. We now know why they have trash cans in all the bathrooms and why no one flushes their toilet paper down the toilet. We've seen their plumbing, and by a major plumbing contractor.....I have pictures in my reports of fittings upside down, used incorrectly, etc. Needless to say, poor Jim was on the phone with SLC architects and our dear friend, Steve Morgan, retired plumber. We ordered International code books and fittings via UPS from Miami and Jim gave plumbing lessons....yes, that's true. But we said, "There's no way we're not flushing our TP down the toilet in our buildings on this project!!
We saw a Home Depot commercial last night, and heaved a huge sigh, really missing all those things at Home Depot. If only we had one here.......